Betrayal of the Heart
by LupinFan227
Summary: Ginny and Sirius mourn someone they loved, but some don't think they have the right. One-shot.


**Betrayal of the Heart**

Summary: Ginny mourns someone she loved.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my imagination.

* * *

Ginny sat on the soft grass in front of the tombstone, her fiery red hair flowing in the breeze. The wind wasn't cold, but she shivered nonetheless. She brought her hand up to her face to wipe away the tears she'd let slip. With her tear-wetted hand she reached up to the stone and traced the name "Harry Potter" until she came to the end of the last "R."

Wiping her tears one last time she stood and gazed at the stone once more. She turned to walk away, only to find she wasn't alone.

"Come to pay your respects as well?" she asked.

"Yes, I have," he replied.

She nodded and walked past him, but he grabbed her arm and said coolly, "How can you be here? You don't have any respect to pay, only desecration to spread." Ginny's teary brown eyes looked up into angry, hurt hazel ones.

"That's enough, Remus," a voice called behind the other man. "Leave her alone."

Remus Lupin dropped Ginny's arm and turned to face his fellow Maurader, who was striding up the path. The man wore expensive robes. His long, black hair cascaded past his shoulders, as a curtain framing his aristocratic, chiseled face. His eyes, crystal-clear blue, were narrowed in anger.

"Sirius," he spat the man's name, "come to gloat on your godson's grave?"

Sirius took Ginny's hand and led her away from Remus. "No, Remus," he replied, "we haven't come to gloat. We've come to remember and cry and reflect. Same as you."

"How could you, Sirius?" he asked angrily. "And you, Ginny? He loved you. Harry loved you. And the both of you betrayed him."

"We didn't betray him," Ginny said quietly. "We can't help loving each other. To not love each other would have betrayed our hearts."

"But Ginny, Harry loved you more than anything!" Remus cried.

Ginny wrenched her hand from Sirius' and clenched her fist at her side.

"I didn't know!" she yelled. "He never told me! How can I be blamed for something I didn't even know?" Her tears formed in her eyes again, and Sirius put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"You knew, though, didn't you, Padfoot?" Remus asked bitterly.

Sirius nodded in sorrowful resignation. "Yes, I knew he loved her. That's why, Remus," he grumbled, "I didn't make my own affections known until after he was gone. I couldn't do that to him while he was still alive."

"But you can now that he's dead, right?" Remus asked. "Thank Merlin he's dead and Sirius Black can have his own way, as usual. Is that how it was?"

Sirius took a step towards the other man. "You're pushing it, Moony."

"Well, then explain it to me," Remus pleaded.

"We've been trying to, but no one will listen," Ginny said, looking at Sirius. He smiled weakly at her in return.

"After Ginny and I went put into hiding, we were stuck with each other," Sirius began. "Harry'd told me the day we left that he loved Ginny and expected me to take care of her. I promised him I would."

Remus snorted sarcastically. "I'm sure you did."

Sirius ignored his comment and continued. "All we had was each other for company. The more time we spent together, the more we fell in love." He paused to look fondly at Ginny, the lines crinkling around his aging face as he smiled. "But we never voiced our feelings. I knew we couldn't. And when we got back, I knew that Harry would be with Ginny."

"But Harry was dead," Remus concluded.

"Yes, he was," Sirius agreed. "And I knew that he would have wanted Ginny to be happy, to be loved. I could give her that."

"Remus," Ginny began, "no two people loved Harry more than Sirius and I did. Surely he would want us to carry that love for him in our hearts, as well as the love for each other."

"But I loved him too," Remus said sadly, "I loved him just as much as the two of you. I knew he loved you, Ginny, for a long time. I knew he wanted this war to be over so the two of you could be together. He didn't want to make you a war bride or have you be a widow at the age of twenty." He sighed loudly before speaking again. "I also knew he would regret not telling you he loved you."

Ginny reached out and gently took Remus' hand. "I did love him, Remus, but I fell out of love with Harry Potter years ago. My heart could never be his, not in the way he wanted. It never could."

"Moony, you know me better than anyone," Sirius implored. "You know I've never really loved a woman, but I do love Ginny. I love her more than anything. I would die for her."

"So would Harry, and he did actually give his life for hers, in a way," Remus said gruffly, jerking from Ginny's grasp.

"I know he did," Sirius said with a choked voice. "He died for all of us."

"And yet, the two of you stand here and desecrate his memory. My God, have either of you no shame?" Remus spat.

Ginny cried silently as her former professor berated her and the love of her life. Sirius swallowed slowly, as if choking back his own tears.

"Remus, please," he begged, "you have to believe that I would never want to do that. When Ginny and I returned, I was fully prepared to walk away from her...for Harry. He was like my own child for Merlin's sake! I would never hurt him by stealing the woman he loved."

"But you did, didn't you?" Remus railed. "The whole time you two were hiding, Harry was fighting, bleeding, dying for this war to be over, for Voldemort to be defeated. Behind his back the two of you were doing God only knows what!" He turned away from the couple. "Get away from here, both of you. You disgust me," he said quietly.

Ginny was crying in earnest now. Sirius reached up a hand to Remus' shoulder, but the other man brushed him off.

Silently, Sirius and Ginny returned to his house. He held her as she cried. "Ginny, if you want to leave, I'll understand. I know how much Harry loved you and what he meant to you. I'll be okay, and I won't ask any questions. I promise."

She pulled away from him, her face soaked with tears. "No, Sirius," she said vehemently, "I love you, and I choose to be with you. I would have chosen you even if Harry was alive."

He looked at her with wide eyes. "I wouldn't have given you the chance to choose me then, Gin. I wouldn't have done that to Harry."

She turned from him and walked a few steps away. "That's where my Weasley tenacity would have come in," she said with a small giggle.

He smiled at her back. He loved her determination. It'd taken the entire Order to force her into hiding when Voldemort decided he wanted her. He'd only gone along because Death Eaters had discovered his return from the Veil, and Dumbledore had said he was too valuable.

He walked to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Yes, you probably would have worn me down after several years, I suppose."

She turned to face him and kissed his lips with all the love and passion she possessed. When they broke apart, he saw the sadness still in her eyes.

"They'll come around, Gin," he promised. "We'll win them over, one by one. I promise we'll all be a family again soon."


End file.
